29 February 2008

Horizons Math Curriculum Review

We've been using the Horizons curriculum for third grade for about a month. The children enjoy having their own workbooks with the nice glossy covers. I enjoy having a teachers' manual with lesson ideas clearly numbered and coordinated with the workbook pages. I've taught some of the public school curriculum (Everyday Math), and I have to tell you that I have no idea how the teachers in public school don't go on a screaming, crazy rant trying to figure which worksheet goes with which lesson and where all 30 of her kids' notebooks are. It takes a lot of planning and digging through manuals to teach. And that's without doing the games and other extras they recommend!

I suppose what I *could* do is to figure out my own scope and sequence, and teach that from materials I glean from the internet. I could figure that the boys ought to learn multiplication this year, and print a zillion worksheets and tests for them to do that. I am just not that organized, and I like having someone else package the whole thing together for me. And while I'm totally responsible for my childrens' education, I like that someone else with experience knowing what a third grader needs to know in math has been working on the books I'm using.

3 comments:

I've heard good things about Saxon Math and Singapore Math, although I've also heard rumors that Saxon isn't what it used to be since it's been bought out by a big text book company. Have you worked with either of these programs?

I really LIKED the Singapore Math placement test although it was very "tricky" and my boys would be placed at about beginning second grade on some concepts, but when I got on the MOMYs board, I was told that they really don't have teacher manuals from their own company.

Math is a very BAD subject for me and honestly I need the answer keys and all the help I can get. I think that moving often in my childhood pretty well ensured that in addition to not knowing all the states and their capitals, I don't have a firm grasp on many math concepts. You'd think I'd just pick it up during "life," but it doesn't work that way.

A cheap remedial text or better yet video for people learning math at about a fifth-grade level would be great, but I don't know of any.

I got the Horizons because they have teacher manuals and an answer key.

Welcome!

I'm Christine! I live near Kansas City, Missouri, and I like Polish pottery a little bit. This blog is mostly about our homeschooling adventures, family life and my assorted oddball opinions. I'd love it if you left a comment and said hello!